


A Superhero in Her Own Right

by Applesaday



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-01-08 12:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12254355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applesaday/pseuds/Applesaday
Summary: "Superheroes shouldn't be above the law..."In a world where superpowers have been banned, Kara decides that she can't sit idly by when she hears a cry for help. But the repercussions of that will be far greater than she can imagine.





	1. The Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go! First full-length Supercorp fic starting now!
> 
> I have two plots I've been kinda going back and forth on, and finally settled on this.
> 
> A total AU, all superpowers are banned worldwide, let's see how it goes! This will start before s1 of the show, so nothing in the show canon should be taken as accurate in this fic.
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys!

_"Superheroes shouldn't be above the law..."_

It was the phrase that started it all. People were more united when in fear than they would let on. It had been easy to convince world leaders that allowing superheroes to have free rein, and treating them as celebrities, sent the wrong message.

_"You start dedicating a day to Superman, giving him a statue, inviting him to your TV shows, and now look. Look at what's left of Metropolis."_

Kara had been young when she saw how Metropolis had been completely leveled. It had been a stroke of luck that no one had died.

Well, not luck.

_"Due to Luthor Corp's fantastic warning system, the people of Metropolis were saved from an even worse fate. But ask yourselves this folks: How can you allow yourselves to cheer on for someone like Superman, when he ravages hundreds of homes? And not just that, what about the families they used to house? Those hundreds of families are now huddling in community centers, churches, schools, anywhere they can find, and they're hoping they'll be able to start anew with the little they have."_

It would take over a decade to fully rebuild the city, and even then, there was still plenty left to be done. But the same couldn't be said for Superman and other superheroes all over the world.

_"We have survived for years without Superman. Think about it. Remember how the world was 10 years ago. We didn't have any of these...superpowered freaks wreaking havoc and trying to tout their ideologies. They are **not**  gods. We need to take action. We can't let them destroy more of our country, our world. Some of you may say, 'well, he apologized, and he's trying to fix things!'_

_"I say that is nonsense! Just watch the press conference, pay attention: he can't even look at the camera. His shame should be much greater! He's blaming some whack nutjob for brainwashing him. What guarantee do we have that he won't be brainwashed again? We have to take action. Which is why I am advocating for implementing a total and complete ban on all superpowers, worldwide."_

And that's how simple it was.

A well-executed speech by one Lillian Luthor put the gears in motion, and soon enough she had enough resources, money, and manpower to create a private army to scout the world and eradicate any super-powered threats.

And for ten years, the world went back to a seemingly calm state. Powerful aliens seeking to take over Earth were now avoiding the place like the plague having seen what happened to the likes of Superman.

Sure, crime was still a thing; robbers and murderers were getting away more easily as local cops could only do so much, but disasters like Metropolis were a thing of the past.

Of course, banning something didn't completely eradicate it. Superpowered beings were still helping out however they could. No one could stand by and do nothing, so they hid in the shadows and fought against would-be attackers and apprehended them, leaving them ready for the local police force to take them away.

It was the least they could do. And it was also all they could do.

* * *

Kara didn't have much excitement in her life. If you were to ask her what she did for fun, she'd say it was getting take-out with her friends, and playing trivia games in her loft.

Granted, she wouldn't easily divulge that she moonlighted as a vigilante, doling out justice and helping when she could.

Not that she had been in the game for long, only a few days. It had been a nice autumn night, and Kara had her window open as she watched TV.

Then her sensitive ears picked up on a cry.

"Help me! Someone! Please!"

Kara had scrambled to get to her window, phone in hand, ready to call the cops.

Then she had seen a gang of hooligans surrounding a young woman in a nearby alleyway, and her instincts went into overdrive.

She couldn't wait. But she couldn't exactly head out wearing her comfiest pair of pyjamas.

So she had rushed to the closet and grabbed what she could.

In the alleyway, the young woman was desperate for help. She was praying and hoping someone would come rescue her. Anyone at all.

"Hey! Leave her alone!"

The woman looked up, and saw the strangest sight. A woman was floating near them, wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie, the bottom half of her face covered with a deep red scarf.

"Whatcha going to do to us? Fly us away?" one of the attackers had said, a shifty looking man with an entirely too confident smile on his face, and a glinting knife poised to strike.

"Oh, you wish," was the only response they got before the masked woman's eyes began to glow red, and she began to punch all the attackers, knocking them out with clean hooks and socking them where it would hurt the most.

The woman backed up against the wall watched with fascination as her hero beat up the 7 men that had been surrounding her, not even letting them get a punch in.

Soon enough, it was just the two of them, and the woman sagged against the wall in relief. "Thank you for saving me."

Kara nodded, her back to the woman she had saved. "Heard your calls for help, came as fast as I could."

Sirens were approaching them, and the other woman said, "You should go, lest you want them to detain you."

"Right." Without another word or a glance, her mysterious saviour flew off, leaving one Lena Luthor very baffled about what just happened.

* * *

The next day, Kara was getting ready for work when her sister Alex burst in through the door. " _Please_ , for the love of everything that is sacred to you, swear to me that wasn't you."

Kara at first didn't even register what Alex was talking about. "What wasn't me?"

Alex whipped out the day's paper and slammed it on the countertop. "This!"

Approaching the paper, Kara barely held her astonishment at the headline:  **Super girl saves Lena Luthor.**

"Lena Luthor?!" was the first thing out of her mouth, much to Alex's chagrin.

"Kara…"

Kara sighed, figuring her sister would demand a satisfactory answer. "No Alex. It wasn't me."

Alex bit her lip. "You're sure, right? I mean, it happened just a block away from here, and-"

"Oh come on! Let it go Alex!" Kara bemoaned. "Why do you keep insisting?"

"Because you're my sister and I don't want the DEO to come knocking and to cart you away."

Kara cringed at the mention of the DEO. They were what Lillian Luthor's army had become, the Department of Extranormal Operations, and they were known to be particularly ruthless, taking care of rogue supers who dared show their powers, even if they had been using said powers to save others.

"And even if that  _had_  been me, how would they even track me back?" Kara asked.

Alex narrowed her eyes at Kara's question. "They have their methods, and apparently, Lena Luthor is making a tracker that will detect any sort of superpower or abnormal functions."

"A tracker?" Kara repeated, sounding a bit worried. "Wait, how do you even know that?"

"I...hear things, and I worry about you. Maybe...maybe moving back with mom wouldn't be such a bad idea, at least until things calm down?" Alex tried, despite knowing it would be a moot point to discuss.

"No! I won't let them decide what I do with my life. So what if I have superpowers? I have a right to live. Not every person with superpowers will end up like Kal." Just thinking about her cousin made her sad. She hadn't seen or heard from him ever since that attack 10 years ago, and she hoped he was okay.

"Maybe not, but you can't let yourself be careless. If anyone ever found out you two were cousins…"

"They won't," Kara said, an air of finality in her voice. "Now, I have to go and take care of Cat Grant, and you have to mix together your science."

"Right, science," Alex mumbled, letting her sister escort her out of her loft. If only that were true.

* * *

"Agent Danvers," Director Hank Henshaw greeted her stoically once she arrived. "I'm assigning you to find out what happened to Ms. Luthor. I will give you your own squadron to run, and you will be reporting what you find out directly to me, understood?"

Alex nodded. "Yes sir. I will find out all I can."

"Good. And then capture that despicable super who thought it would be funny to orchestrate this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the first chapter!
> 
> Setting things up a bit, and I'll hopefully have a new chapter soon!
> 
> I'd love to hear your thoughts.


	2. The Birth of Supergirl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Sorry for not updating this sooner, I had the chapter mostly written but I just forgot I had it?
> 
> Anyway, here we go, new year - new chapter!

The hunt for this super-girl that had had the balls to save Lena Luthor was at full blast.

After a day of fruitless detecting, the dreaded tracker that Alex had mentioned was put into effect.

The machine just needed a 3 second scan of a person's fingerprint and it would tell you everything: name, species, past misdemeanours, which would then be issued as a print-out so that citizens could present in the future so they needn't keep being scanned over and over again.

Thankfully though, the rushed release of the contraption meant that it wasn't fully finished, and therefore it currently was not battery powered as intended, but rather, it had to be plugged into a wall. That severely diminished the places where the DEO could scan people to just indoor places near a wall plug.

Kara had so far managed to avoid being scanned by that contraption, but then a trio of DEO agents and a techie showed up at CatCo.

"Attention all citizens. By order of decree #6843, all citizens must submit themselves to a fingerprint scan. It will take less than a minute, and it is just meant to assure you that there are no superhumans that may have infiltrated your life. If you have already been scanned before, you need only present your receipt for scanning. Now, single file please."

Kara paled. Now what? She wildly tried to look for a way out...or something, anything, that could cause a distraction.

"Now this is just ridiculous. One super just saved the daughter of your leader, and you respond by leading a witch hunt against her?" Cat Grant had sauntered out of her office and was now glaring daggers at the three heavily armed officers and the meek techie who had been talking, plugging in the scanner in his hand in the nearest outlet.

One of the armed officers stepped up and said, "Stand down ma'am, this is an official investigation."

Cat didn't even blink, and just stared down at the man in front of her. "This is  _my_  company, and  _my_  employees that you are harassing. And if you know what's good for you,  _you_  will be the one standing down."

Kara naively figured that Cat would be triumphant, but then he grabbed her by the arm and twisted her around before he slammed her face down on the table to Cat's various yells of pain.

"Ms. Grant!" various people chorused, Kara among them. She was starting to stand up, fully intending on punching that guy in the face, when Winn hissed, "Don't."

Kara frowned, looking at her colleague with confusion. "Don't help Ms. Grant?"

Winn glanced at the guard now reading Cat her rights as he cuffed her, and then gestured to Kara's tight fist. "Not in the way your hand is implying."

The guard began to lead Cat away, and the latter yelled out, "Kiera, contact my lawyer and tell him everything! And if any if you millennials got a video if this, send it to her for evidence."

Even while being arrested Cat was still poised and barking commands.

"Anyway!" The techie was looking around the room with an awkward smile. "Despite that hiccup, if you could all please form a line, I promise this will go fast if everyone cooperates."

But before Kara could do anything to get her boss out, she had to fool the scanners.

Then, she got an idea.

Using the din of her other colleagues getting in line dutifully to be scanned, Kara asked, "Hey Winn, any chance you could do me a favour?"

Winn was fishing out his receipt from his wallet and he frowned, narrowing his eyes. "Probably, yes. What's the favour?"

Kara drummed up her nervousness a bit more before saying, "I did something stupid when I was a teen, but records and all that. Any chance you could hack into his scanner so I could get a clean read-out?"

Winn spluttered. It was a tall order. And sure they had talked a bit in the past, but was it enough to suggest that Winn would do something so risky and complicated for her?

Seeing that Kara was basically the only person who talked to him at work, he felt that that warranted him helping her, so: yes. However… "You do realize that thing scans in  _three seconds_  right?"

"Then hack it in that time," Kara hissed, keeping an eye on the guard approaching their area.

"It's not possible! I'd need more time!" Winn tried to explain.

"Then make time," Kara pleaded, getting up when the guard looked at her.

"Come on, go get scanned," he barked.

Winn held up his receipt. "I've already been scanned."

After the officer deemed his receipt legitimate, Winn got to work, using his laptop so his screen wouldn't be visible to the wandering guards. He typed as fast as he could, keeping an eye where Kara was in line, knowing she was looking at him too.

He had an idea, but there was no guarantee that it would work.

Kara had one person ahead of her, and she was prepared for anything. Whether it be fighting these goons off, or maybe she should just use her speed to just run out of there.

"Next," the techie called out.

Kara boldly walked up to the techie, and pressed her thumb onto the scanner.

Then the power went out.

Yells of shock and confusion filled the room. The DEO guards cocked their guns, as if expecting an ambush.

The techie huffed about unreliable power supplies, yanking the now unpowered scanner, smacking it as if it would magically turn back on.

Kara quickly sneaked a glance at Winn, who was hiding behind his laptop, typing away, screen dimmed so as to not draw attention.

When the lights came back on a few minutes later, everyone sighed in relief.

"Sorry ma'am, could you press your thumb here again?" the techie asked.

Kara gulped, and pressed her thumb to the scanner area.

The scan pad flashed green and the techie smiled at her. "Alright then, let me print your receipt."

When Kara took a look at the receipt, she saw that Winn had done an excellent job at making her pass for a model human. She really owed him one.

When she walked back to her desk, she flashed Winn a thankful smile. "I owe you one. Lunch at Noonan's?"

Winn nodded and smiled, his expression betraying nothing. "Sure yeah! Let me know when you want to go."

Kara, feeling relieved her secret was safe, got to work springing Ms. Grant out.

* * *

It'd turn out that springing someone from the DEO wasn't that easy, and by the time 2'o clock rolled around, Kara was still working away.

After being rudely hanged up on, Kara lowered her head onto her hands, and sighed.

"How about some take-out?" Winn's voice said from her right, holding up a bag of food. He had seen that Kara was busy, so he took initiative to grab them both a bite.

Kara raised her head and smiled, relieved. "That sounds fantastic."

"Great! How about we eat out on the terrace, I want to talk to you about something."

Curious, Kara followed Winn who, apart from carrying their lunches, was also carrying his laptop.

Once they sat down, Kara asked, "What's up?"

Winn's answer was to open his laptop and show her his screen. It was a screenshot of what looked to be a dossier on her.

"What-" Kara began, growing panicked at seeing the line 'Species: Kryptonian'.

"Funny thing," Winn began, a sheepish smile on his face. "What I ended up doing was using the blackout to edit your file here and then spoof it onto his screen. But instead of faking a misdemeanour, I wind up having to fake your humanity."

Kara gulped. "What do you want? Money?"

Winn looked confused until he connected the dots to what she was saying, and then he immediately began to try and explain, "Oh god no! No, I was just trying to tell you that your secret is safe with me."

Kara didn't want to sound too hopeful as she asked, "Yeah?"

"Yeah of course!" When Kara still looked somewhat doubtful, he explained, "In fact, my girlfriend, Lyra, is an alien herself, so I'm not in the business of exposing aliens."

Kara was surprised to hear that. "Oh? And how did you get her by the scanners?"

Winn looked smug and proud as he said, "Created a special blend to mimic skin with a special DNA print that reads out that she's human. Then she just has to wear it on her thumb and voila."

Kara looked impressed. "Wow, and it worked?"

"Like a charm. But then again, I had time," he said, jokingly glaring at her.

Looking sheepish, Kara said, "Sorry, I panicked."

Winn grinned. "Yeah, I could tell. Not to mention they don't really care about past misdemeanours, just if you're an alien or possess superpowers."

"And I do, on both fronts," Kara said with a tired air.

"Which begs the question," Winn began. "Are you  _the_  super girl?"

Kara groaned. "Yes, but I really don't like that name."

Winn frowned. "Why not?"

"It sounds so condescending, like I'm not a woman and just a girl way in over her head."

"Actually, it sounds badass, and catchy. Like super woman is just too many syllables. Super girl just rolls off the tongue." Winn snapped his fingers. "That should totally be your superhero name. Supergirl. Saving the world and taking down the DEO."

Kara smiled at his dramatic flair. "I hadn't exactly planned for becoming a superhero. I was just in the right place at the right time and saved the one person that catapulted me into the spotlight."

"Isn't that how all superhero origin stories start off as?" Winn asked. "Come on, I'll even design and sew you a cool superhero costume."

Kara frowned. "You sew?"

"Yep, and proudly so," Winn said. "Before I found the wonder of computers, fabrics were my friend. So what do you say? My place tonight? You can meet Lyra and we can design you a cool costume."

"Alright, let's do this."

* * *

Thankfully, Kara managed to get her boss released before the day was over, so when she arrived at Winn's place, she was completely relaxed.

The girl who opened up the door smiled brightly at her. "You must be Kara. I'm Lyra, it's so nice to meet you. Come in, come in."

Kara stepped inside to find herself in the middle of what looked like a sea of fabrics. Once the door was closed behind her, Lyra pressed something on her wrist, and her appearance changed, Kara recognized the Valerian features on her face and smiled.

"Good! You're here," Winn greeted from the middle of the chaos. "Now let's get your measurements."

Winn started measuring her, while Lyra talked a bit about herself, seated on the couch to the side while Kara stood on a step stool, arms out, with Winn flitting about getting her measurements.

"It was a total coincidence that Winn and I met. See, my brother had just been taken by the DEO, and I went to drown my sorrows at this alien bar-"

"National has an alien bar?!" Kara interjected, whipping around to face Lyra, much to Winn's chagrin, who had almost given up trying to get her to stand still.

Lyra frowned. "You didn't know that?"

Kara shook her head.

"Then I guess I'll have to take you there. I'm seeing a girls night out in our future," Lyra brightly concluded. "Anyway, I was there, drowning my sorrows, and in walks this handsome devil, brokenhearted as can be. Some girl had dumped him, and had decided to sate his own sorrow by...I don't even remember what it's called."

Winn spluttered, pausing in his measuring to face his girlfriend. "It's wandering without a purpose. I just let my legs take me, and then I found myself at the bar."

Lyra nodded, expression full of mirth as Winn continued measuring. "Humans don't generally find this bar so you can imagine everyone's surprise at seeing a human show up. Well, after the initial shock, we got to talking, and then hanging out, and a few months later, I asked him out. One year later, here we are! Just moved in together two days ago."

Kara smiled. "I'm so happy for you two."

Winn clapped his hands together. "Alright, enough stories, let's get to putting your costume together."

"Just please don't make me look ridiculous," Kara pleaded, stepping down from her perch.

"Fine," Winn bemoaned, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Now, I have to ask, what's your connection to Superman?"

"He's my cousin," Kara simply said.

Winn let out a gasp. "Your  _cousin_?! Do you know where he is?"

Kara shook her head. "Haven't seen him since the Metropolis attack."

"In any case," Lyra began, standing up. "We were thinking we could kind of emulate his colours."

And so the great costume fashion tryout began. Kara tried all manner of costumes, but nothing spoke to her.

It was the fifth costume that finally clicked with her. It was a full-body suit made of a blue mesh that, according to Winn, allowed for flexibility while also having the bonus of being weather resistant.

"You wouldn't want to be freezing cold in the middle of the tundra huh?" he joked.

"You do know that I don't really feel the cold, right?" Kara countered.

"Not really, but very cool power," he commented. "And in any case, you might be, but if the suit isn't, you'll kinda end up naked because it froze and shattered into a million tiny pieces."

"Fair enough," Kara agreed. She looked down at her socked feet. "And for footwear?"

Lyra pulled out a pair of deep red tall boots. "We've outfitted these with reinforced padding all along your shins, and flat soles for practicality."

Kara slipped them on, impressed as they went up and covered her knees with a pretty sturdy material. "I like it. But what about something to hide my identity? Knowing the DEO, keeping my hair down and not wearing my glasses won't help much against their facial recognition software."

Winn hummed. "Hang on a second."

He rummaged around for a bit and came back with a fabric the same colour as her boots. Within half an hour, he had transformed it into a makeshift cape with a hood.

"I'd need to make a few adjustments, mainly wrap it around your shoulders so it doesn't choke you, and weigh the hood down so it won't fly off and expose you."

Lyra kept looking at Kara thoughtfully. "I think you need an insignia."

"What for?" Kara asked.

"To have a symbol so people know it's you. People would instantly recognize you. So, what symbol?"

Kara floundered for a bit. "How about my house crest?"

Winn popped his head up. "You have a house crest? Very cool."

"Yeah, it's the same as Superman's. The House of El on Krypton, based around the symbol of hope."

Lyra nodded slowly. "The S symbol right?"

Kara huffed. "It's not an S, but sure. That one."

While Lyra went and crafted something, Kara looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like her cousin - a hero. She just hoped she didn't end up ostracized as he did.

"Alright! Come out and let's see!" Winn called out a few hours later, plopping down on the couch beside his girlfriend as they waited for Kara to finish putting the cape on.

When she came out, they looked satisfied with their handywork. The insignia on her chest was proudly displayed, and they had added some yellow accents to her sides. The final touch was the deep red cape flowing down her shoulders and connecting to a hood that shadowed her face slightly, and while a few locks of blonde hair spilled out, her glowing red eyes would keep their attention from focusing on that.

"Can you even see?" Lyra asked, waving a hand in front of Kara's face.

Kara nodded. "Yep. Just for effect mostly, I don't even have my laser vision powered up."

They looked both impressed and intimidated.

"Gonna take it out for a spin?" Lyra asked.

Kara certainly wanted to get going, start making a difference and fight crime. "Sure, but how would I even know where to go? I mean, I could use my super hearing, but it might be easy to miss something."

Winn hummed. "I could always hack into the police scanners and check it out that way."

And so, that was how Kara's first official night fighting crime began. It was exhilarating and fulfilling, seeing the relieved faces of the people she saved.

Of course, the DEO was hot on her tail by the end of the night, even trying to come at her with a helicopter.

She managed to evade them easily enough, but with all the roundabouts she had to do, she only managed to get home at 5am, and she was so tired, she fell asleep wearing her suit.

* * *

The next day, Kara could barely keep herself awake, but despite her fatigue, when Cat's private elevator opened, Kara was waiting with her coffee on hand. And good thing too, because Cat was on a rampage.

"Good Kiera, you're here. Now, I have a very busy day ahead of me, so I want you to pay attention. First, fire whoever let those idiots up here. Secondly, arrange a meeting with..."

The rest of Cat's orders were received on autopilot. Mainly because Winn was over on the balcony making some wild gestures to try and get her attention that largely resembled him trying to take flight.

"Did you get all of that?" Cat's voice brought her back to reality.

"Yes, Ms. Grant, I'll get right on that," Kara quickly said, nodding. Once Cat was in her office, she headed to where Winn was. "Are you okay? You seem a bit panicked."

Winn gave a nervous laugh and then beckoned her over to his laptop. "So you know how I was using the police scanners last night? Well I figured that it'd be pretty hard to track us down from that, but it seems someone did, and they sent a message this morning."

Kara bent down to read the letter on the screen.

_Supergirl,_

_I have to commend you on your work thus far, particularly using police scanners to find people to save and criminals to apprehend. I would like to meet with you tonight, 8pm, on the rooftop of National City Bank on Wilson Street._

"There's no signature? No name?" Kara asked, brows furrowed as she finished reading.

Winn shook his head. "Nope. But I did trace back on the origin of the message. It came from within Luthor Corp."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure everyone can guess who sent that message, right?
> 
> Next chapter we get to dive into Lena, see what she's thinking and what her priorities are.
> 
> Let me know what you think! And happy new year!


End file.
